A cabinet minister in Venezuela has given his personal mobile phone number on national television and urged police officers to call him directly to report cases of corruption within the force.
Miss Venezuela Monica Spear in Bangkok in 2005. Photo: AFP (file)
After an ex-beauty queen was slain on Monday, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said on Saturday that rooting out corruption is the only way for the police to regain public trust.
"New police will always have some great superiors, well-prepared ones. But they also are going to get some bad eggs,'' he said.
''Report them fearlessly because their (corruption) undermines police authority for the Venezuelan people," Mr Rodriguez said on state television.
"Just give me the information right away, and we will rip the head off that immoral police superior," the minister said after giving his mobile number.
The BBC tried to ring the number but calls were not immediately answered.
The BBC reports police corruption is seen as one reason why Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Last year, nearly 25,000 people were killed there, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a non-governmental organisation. The government disputes these figures.
Former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear, 29, was the latest casualty late on Monday.
Ms Spear, 29, and her ex-partner Henry Thomas Berry, 39, were shot in front of their daughter, who was wounded, after their car broke down on a highway.
Seven people, including a woman and two teenagers, have since been arrested. The couple was buried on Friday in the capital, Caracas. Their daughter, Maya, aged five, was in the care of her grandparents.
The BBC reports hundreds of fans, fellow artists and relatives formed long queues at the cemetery to pay their respect.
